Word: khmers
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...hills where Laos and Cambodia abut the Land of Smiles. At the moment there isn't much to see except trees. But the Tourism Authority of Thailand envisions a 600-hectare-plus zone spanning the three countries, featuring resort towns, handicrafts, botanical gardens, a war museum, a Khmer cultural center and the piece de r?sistance?a golf course where playing 18 holes would add up to a stroll across three frontiers...
...only in lining its own pockets since the end of absolute monarchy in 1990 resonated in the Himalayan hills. But lately, the "people's rebels" have embarked on an altogether bloodier course, inspired?according to a former rebel commander?by the tactics of Cambodia's Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In November, the Maoists broke off three months of peace talks with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba by launching 48 simultaneous attacks on army, police and government installations across the kingdom. This kicked off a whirlwind of atrocities that has cost nearly 2,000 lives. Strikes by thousands...
...into becoming sex slaves for the soldiers. State infrastructure?power substations, telephone exchanges, village administration offices, bridges, clinics, dams, irrigation and drinking-water projects?and the homes of the "people's enemies" are being leveled. Their aim, the Maoists admit, is to achieve Year Zero, a reference to the Khmer Rouge genocide that was to clear the way for a socialist utopia. "At first, we just wanted to destroy all the government institutions in the village," Junge Kuna village leader Ghopal Phandari, 23, told me deep in rebel territory in Dang. "But then we decided to block any access...
CULTURAL RENAISSANCE Classic Khmer dance, as ancient as the stone temples that draw most visitors to the country, is tiptoeing back from the brink of extinction, proof of Cambodia's cultural resurgence. Regular shows are staged in Phnom Penh at the Sovanna Phum cultural arts center, where viewers can enjoy the stylized sweeping hand and finger gestures of dancers outfitted in shiny silk sarongs that really fit: dancers are sewn into them before each performance...
...Khmer Rouge did their best to snuff out the 1,000-year-old dance form, murdering an estimated 80% of its masters during their 1975-79 pogrom against artists and intellectuals. Those who survived spent the 1980s and 1990s teaching the art to a younger generation and recording it for posterity on video and paper. You can observe dance classes at the Royal University of Fine Arts' North Campus Monday through Saturday from 7:30 to 10:30 in the morning. Or, to see the finished product for $5, get dates and showtimes from Sovanna Phum by e-mailing sovannaphum@netrec.net...